Radios used in wireless communications systems generally receive small signals and transmit large signals. There are many sources of noise in a modern wireless communication system. They include the transmitter and possibly multiple transmitters for devices with multiple radios operating simultaneously. Insufficient isolation between transmitter and receiver, crosstalk from unwanted sources, broadband noise from digital buses such as those traveling from a processor to a display device, and side lobes of these and other signals can all contribute to the interfering noise in the system. Representative types of interference may be generally characterized as electromagnetic interference (EMI) or insufficient isolation. In EMI, the interference is a radiated electromagnetic wave that is coupled into the receiver. When components have insufficient isolation, interfering signals or noise may couple through electrical components, air, or printed circuit board (PCB) traces.
Since wireless communication systems transmit and receive electromagnetic (EM) signals to communicate data, EMI can be a significant concern. Examples of such systems include mobile phones, wireless e-mail services, pager services, wireless data networks (e.g. networks conforming to IEEE standards 802.11a/b/g/n), satellite links, terrestrial microwave, wireless peripheral links (e.g. Bluetooth) cable television, broadcast television, and global position systems (GPSs). Receivers within wireless communication devices may undesirably receive interfering signals along with the intended radio signal. The radio signal that was intended to be received can be termed the “victim” signal. The signal that imposes the interference can be termed the “aggressor” or “aggressing” signal. Thus, EMI often degrades the signal fidelity of the victim signal and impairs radio reception quality. Exemplary sources of interference can include, among others, other radio circuits within the device itself, high-speed buses carrying data within the device itself, signals coupling from other circuits within the device due to poor isolation, and EMI originating outside the device. Even when the communication bands of the victim and aggressor do not directly overlap one another, out-of-band aggressor signals may corrupt the victim signal, particularly if the aggressor signal is significantly more intense than the victim signal.
EMI may become problematic when two or more radio services are operated on the same device, such as a mobile phone handset with multiple bands or services. In this situation, the transmitted signal for a first radio service may interfere with the received signal for a second radio service. Such interference can occur even when two or more services utilize different frequency bands as a result of the transmitted power of the first signal being significantly larger than the received power of the second signal. Detrimental interference also may occur when insufficient suppression of sideband signals causes energy leakage from one RF system into a second RF system. Consequently, even a small fraction of the first, transmitted signal can leak into the second, received signal to cause an interference problem.
In addition to EMI arising from an alternate wireless service, EMI may arise from high-speed circuitry in close proximity to the receiver. In mobile phones, for example, a high-speed bus may carry display data from a processor to a high-resolution display. In many cases, increasing the resolution of the display is desirable from a product feature perspective. However, the faster bus data rates associated with increased display resolution typically generate a higher level of radiated EMI, thereby degrading the victim signal of the mobile phone. High-speed buses may include buses carrying high digital data rates, buses with signals that switch rapidly, or buses with signals that switch frequently. That is, very fast rise and fall times of bus signals may be as significant as the actual amount of data throughput.
With respect to the digital systems within wireless devices, a device designer may seek to increase the data rate or bandwidth of each lane, conductor, or channel. The designer might seek increased bandwidth to support higher display resolution, higher display update rates, higher camera resolutions, increased digital memory, integration of handheld computer features, integration of music and video functionalities, etc. A faster data rate may also result from designing a bus with a reduced number of data, address, or control lanes. Reducing bus lanes typically involves increasing the data rate on the remaining lanes to support the existing aggregate throughput. Thus, improvements in displays, cameras, and other subsystems can increase EMI and degrade the performance of the radio receiver in a mobile phone system.
The impact of EMI can increase when high-speed circuitry is routed in close proximity to a radio receiver. In particular, a high-speed signal can cause the emission of EMI. When such a high-speed signal is routed in close proximity to a radio receiver, the receiver can undesirably receive the interference along with the radio signal that is intended for reception.
High-speed buses emitting interference can take multiple forms. For instance, in the mobile phone application described above, the bus carrying the display data is often embodied as a flex cable. A flex cable may also be referred to as a flex circuit or a ribbon cable. A flex cable typically comprises a plurality of conductive traces or channels (typically copper conductors) embedded, laminated, or printed on or in a flexible molding structure such as a plastic or polymer film or some other dielectric or insulating material.
A third source of EMI can be circuits or circuit elements located in close proximity to a victim channel or radio. Like the signals on the high-speed buses, signals flowing through a circuit or circuit component can emit EMI. Representative examples of circuits that can emit a problematic level of EMI include voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs), phased-lock loops (PLLs), switch-mode circuits, amplifiers, and other active or passive circuits or circuit components.
Furthermore, a designer may wish to improve the radio reception of a wireless system, for example to facilitate reception of weak radio signals in a mobile phone application. In other words, improving reception of low-power signals or noisy signals provides another motivation to reduce or to otherwise address interference or crosstalk. A weak radio signal might have less intensity than the noise level of the EMI, for example. Thus, reducing EMI may facilitate reception of weaker radio signals or enable operating a mobile phone or other radio in a noisy environment.
Conventional passive filters are often not effective in contending with EMI. In such instances, an active canceller can help mitigate the interference. One technique for actively canceling signal interference involves sampling the aggressor signal and processing the acquired sample to generate an emulation of the interference, in the form of a simulated or emulated interference signal. A canceller circuit subtracts the emulated interference signal from the received victim signal, which has been corrupted by the interference, to yield a compensated or corrected signal with reduced interference.
Conventional technologies for sampling the aggressor signal are frequently inadequate. Distortion or error associated with sampling the aggressor signal can lead to a diminished match between the interference and the emulation of the interference. One technique for obtaining a sample of the aggressor signal is to directly tap the aggressor line. However, the resulting loss of power on the transmitted aggressor line is detrimental in many applications, such as in hand-held radios, cell phones, or handset applications. Directly tapping into the aggressor line can also adversely impact system modularity.
The interference sampling system should generally be situated in close proximity to the source or sources of interference. This configuration helps the sampling system obtain samples of the interference signals while avoiding sampling the radio signal. Inadvertent sampling of the radio signal could result in the canceller circuit removing the victim radio signal from the compensated signal, thereby degrading the compensated signal. In other words, conventional technologies for obtaining an interference sample often impose awkward or unwieldy constraints on the location of the sampling elements.
For handset applications, the sampling system should generally be compatible with the handset architecture and its compact configuration. Radio handsets, such as mobile phones, typically contain numerous components that design engineers may struggle to integrate using conventional design technologies. Strict placement requirements of conventional interference sampling systems frequently increase system design complexity. In other words, conventional interference sampling systems often fail to offer an adequate level of design flexibility as a result of positioning constraints.
Another shortcoming of most conventional technologies for active EMI cancellation involves inadequate management of power consumption. An active EMI cancellation system may consume an undesirably high level of electrical power that can shorten battery life in handset applications. That is, conventional EMI cancellation technology, when applied in a cellular telephone or other portable device, often draws too much power from the battery or other energy source of the portable device. Consumers typically view extended battery life as a desirable feature for a portable wireless communication product. Thus, reducing power consumption to extend usage time between battery recharges is often a priority to design engineers.
To address these representative deficiencies in the art, what is needed is an improved capability for addressing, correcting, or canceling signal interference in communication systems. A need exists for a compact system for sampling an aggressor signal and/or associated interference in a communication system, such as a cellular device. A further need exists for an interference sampling system that affords an engineer design modularity or flexibility. Another need exists in the art for a means to control the gain and phase of the canceling signal with active EMI cancellers. There is a further need for such gain and phase compensation to be continuously adaptive in nature to address any time-varying changes in the aggressor signal or any changes in the manner in which the aggressor signal couples to the victim signal. There is another need in the art for active EMI canceller control loops that avoid interference with the desired receive signal or that avoid adding extra noise to the received signal. Yet another need exists for a system that reduces or suppresses signal interference while managing power consumption. A capability addressing one or more of these needs would support operating compact communication systems at high data rates and/or with improved signal fidelity.